s 


LIB 

OF  THE 

i 


ir^     The  Building  of  the   University 


A  N 


• 
11 


#*  -#^^^i!l^  ^WM 


^■^y- 


Delivered  at  Oakland,  Nov.  7th,    1872. 


By    DANIEL    C.    GILMAN, 

President  of  the  University  of  California. 


SAN    FRANCISCO: 
John*    H.    Carmany    &    Co.,     Book    and     Job     Printers, 

Overland  Monthly  Presses,  409  Washington  Street. 

1872. 


The   Building  of  the    University. 


A  N 


'  i 


V.   ^v 


Delivered  at  Oakland,  Nov.  jth,    1872. 


By    DANIEL    C.    OILMAN, 

President  of  the  University  of  California. 


SAN    FRANCISCO: 

John    H .    Carmany    &    Co.,     Book    and     Job     P r i n ters, 

Overland  Monthly  Presses,  409  Washington  Street. 
l872. 


The  writer  of  the  following  address  deems  it  but  just  to  the 
California  reader  to  say  that  it  was  written  under  many  inter- 
ruptions, in  the  ten  days  which  elapsed  between  his  arrival  in  the 
State  and  the  day  of  the  inauguration;  and  that  this  must  ex- 
plain the  merely  general  references  to  some  topics  of  special  local 
importance,  which  on  better  acquaintance  he  will  be  ready  to 
discuss. 


Inaugural  Address. 


Grateful  for  the  kindness  with  which  I  have  been  met, 
and  full  of  hope  for  the  future  which  opens  before  us,  I  en- 
ter upon  this  trust,  imploring  for  the  University  of  Califor- 
nia th$  generous  support  of  all  good  men  within  the  com- 
monwealth, and  seeking  the  divine  blessing  upon  our  united 
efforts  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  the  promotion  of 
science,  and  the  furtherance  of  the  welfare  of  our  fellow- 
men. 

It  is  an  academic  usage,  in  our  land  at  least,  that  on 
occasions  like  this  the  incoming  officer  should  express  his 
views  upon  the  Higher  Education;  and  the  usage  can  not 
well  be  disregarded  when  one  who  is  almost  a  stranger  first 
enters  a  community  of  experienced  teachers  and  aspiring 
scholars  like  that  which  is  here  assembled.  My  theme  will 
therefore  be  the  Building  of  the  University. 

THE    EPOCH    IN    WHICH    WE    ARE    BUILDING. 

During  the  last  few  years  great  changes  have  been  made 
in  the  higher  educational  systems  of  this  and  other  lands. 
New  institutions  have  been  built;  old  institutions  have  been 
rebuilt.  Better  halls,  more  varied  programmes,  larger  staffs 
of  teachers,  wiser  methods  of  instruction,  closer  adaptation 
to  the  wants  of  society,  are  among  the  improvements  ren- 
dered actual  by  advancing  scholarship  and  increasing  funds. 

Since  the  University  of  California  was  organized  by  the 
State,  several  leading  colleges  have  witnessed  ceremonies 
like  these  in  which  we  are  now  engaged,  and  so  there  have 
been  ample  and  fresh  discussions  of  some  of  the  questions 
which  most  interest  us.     At  Cambridge,  Xew  Haven,  and 


4  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

Princeton,  those  historic  seats  of  learning  where  traditions 
and  usages  both  help  and  fetter  —  at  Ithaca,  Ann  Arbor, 
Minneapolis,  and  St.  Louis,  in  newer,  freer,  and  hardier  cir- 
cumstances— and  likewise  in  other  places,  which  are  neither 
old  nor  new,  here  the  voice  of  Experience,  and  there  the 
voice  of  Hope,  has  been  heard  in  the  eulogy  of  learning  and 
culture,  and  in  earnest  plea  for  progress  and  support. 

Whoever  reviews  these  various  utterances,  and  compares 
them  with  those  of  five-and-twenty  years  ago,  will  see  that 
the  line  of  discussion  has  been  changed,  that  great  advances 
have  been  made,  and  that  great  results  are  not  far  off.  If 
then  he  turns  to  the  venerable  shrines  at  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge, before  which  every  scholar  loves  to  bow,  and  traces 
their  progress  since  the  Parliamentary  Commissions  began 
their  inquiries,  he  will  find  reasons  for  surprise  and  con- 
gratulation that  the  doors  have  been  opened  to  modern 
science  as  a  teacher,  and  to  non-  conformists  as  pupils.  If 
his  eye  looks  toward  the  continent,  he  may  see  scholastic 
Germany  —  the  United  States  of  the  Old  World — now  en- 
gaged in  the  foundation  of  a  new  university  at  Strasburg, 
as  the  greatest  boon  which  can  be  given  by  a  triumphant 
nation  to  a  recovered  province ;  a  university  which,  in  its 
comprehensive  faculties,  its  liberal  structure,  its  probable 
power,  approaches  the  University  of  Berlin,  and  may  well 
serve  as  an  example  to  those  in  California  who  desire  com- 
pleteness, and  who  want  it  quickly. 

Side  by  side  with  the  university  foundations,  sometimes 
a  part  of  them,  oftener  apart  from  them,  the  modern  schools 
of  science  and  technology  are  springing  up,  as  at  Zurich, 
Aachen,  Carlsruhe  and  Vienna;  at  many  places  in  the  new- 
born kingdom  of  Italy;  and,  under  the  beneficent  action  of 
the  Congressional  grant,  or  under  the  generous  gifts  of  Shef- 
field, Cornel],  Stevens,  and  their  peers,  in  every  State  of  the 
American  Union. 

Everywhere  among  enlightened  people,  universities  in 
their  most  comprehensive  scope  are  in  this  year  of  grace 
receiving  impulses  which  are  as  creditable  to  the  spirit  of 


INAUGURAL     ADDRESS.  5 

the  age  as  they  are  hopeful  for  the  ages  yet  to  come.  Our 
State  and  National  Governments  see  that  questions  of  the 
higher  education  must  be  met  in  the  public  councils,  and 
in  many  places  are  vying  with  one  another  to  devise  wise 
schemes  of  educational  development;  the  builder's  ham- 
mer is  heard  in  many  seats  of  learning — at  Harvard,  at 
Yale,  at  Amherst,  at  Princeton,  at  Ithaca,  at  Philadelphia 
—  constructing  the  walls  which  shall  furnish  homes  to  suc- 
cessive generations  of  pupils;  collections  of  books,  maps, 
and  charts,  and  works  of  art,  museums  of  geology  and  nat- 
ural history  and  archaeology,  laboratories  for  chemical, 
physical,  botanical,  and  zoological  researches,  are  multiply- 
ing with  a  marvelous  rapidity;  lenses  are  made  for  the 
microscope  and  the  telescope  surpassing  any  which  the 
physicist  and  astronomer  have  hitherto  possessed;  prizes 
and  scholarships  have  been  endowed,  and  fellowships  some- 
times providing  for  continued  residence  at  the  college,  and 
sometimes  for  residence  in  foreign  Universities;*  to  the  tra- 
ditional schools  of  law,  medicine,  and  theology  have  been 
added  schools  of  philology,  of  history,  of  the  fine  arts,  of 
chemistry,  engineering,  agriculture,  and  mines  —  devices 
and  arrangements  to  allure  vouns;  men  to  higher  attain- 
ments,  and  to  aid  them  in  their  onward  steps.  Underlying 
all  this,  supporting  all  this,  indispensable  to  all  this,  have 
been  the  prolific  gifts  of  men  of  wealth,  far-sighted  and  gen- 
erous benefactors,  whose  names  a  grateful  posterity  will 
cherish  forever  as  the  true  nobility  of  the  republic,  the 
lords  and  gentlemen  of  the  American  State.  Such  is  the 
hopeful  aspect  of  university  education  elsewhere. 

Now  comes  the  turn  of  this  new  ''Empire  State."  Cali- 
fornia, queen  of  the  Pacific,  is  to  speak  from  her  golden 
throne,  and  decree  the  future  of  her  University.  California, 
the  land  of  wonders,  riches,  and  delights;  whose  hills  teem 
with  ore;  whose  valleys  are  decked  with  purple  and  gold, 
the  luscious  vine  and  life-giving  corn;   whose  climate  revives 

*  Like  the  Kirklaud  scholarship,  at  Cambridge,  just  given  by  the  historian 
Bancroft. 


O  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

the  invalid  and  upholds  the  strong  ;  whose  harbors  are  the 
long- sought  doorways  to  the  Indies;  whose  central  city  is 
cosmopolite  like  Constantinople  of  old;  whose  pioneers 
were  bold,  strong,  and  generous  ;  whose  institutions  were 
molded  by  far-  sighted  men,  bringing  hither  the  best  ideas 
of  many  different  societies  as  the  foundation  of  a  modern 
Christian  State  ;  whose  citizens  are  renowned  for  enterprise, 
patriotism,  and  vigor;  whose  future  no  seer  can  foretell: — 
California,  thus  endowed  by  Nature,  and  thus  organized 
by  man,  is  to  build  a  University.  What  shall  it  be? 
Time  alone  can  tell,  but  forethought  and  faith  may  be 
factors  in  the  problem. 

WHAT    IS    TO    BE    BUILT? 

Two  things  are  settled  by  the  charter  of  this  institution, 
and  are  embodied  in  the  very  name  it  bears. 

First,  it  is  a  "University,'5  and  not  a  high -school,  nor  a 
college,  nor  an  academy  of  sciences,  nor  an  industrial-school, 
which  we  are  charged  to  build.  Some  of  these  features 
may,  indeed,  be  included  in  or  developed  with  the  Univer- 
sity; but  the  University  means  more  than  any  or  all  of 
them.  The  University  is  the  most  comprehensive  term 
which  can  be  employed  to  indicate  a  foundation  for  the 
promotion  and  diffusion  of  knowledge — a  group  of  agencies 
organized  to  advance  the  arts  and  sciences  of  every  sort, 
and  to  train  young  men  as  scholars  for  all  the  intellectual 
callings  of  life.  Universities  differ  widely  in  their  internal 
structure.  The  older  institutions  are  mostly  complex,  in- 
cluding a  great  variety  of  faculties,  colleges,  chairs,  halls, 
scholarships,  and  collections,  more  or  less  closely  bound 
together  as  one  establishment,  endowed  with  investments, 
privileges,  and  immunities,  and  regarded  as  indispensable 
both  to  the  moral  and  material  progress  of  the  community? 
or,  in  other  words,  as  essential  both  to  Church  and  State. 
In  this  country,  the  name  is  often  misapplied  to  a  simple 
college,  probably  with  that  faith  which  is  "the  substance  of 
things,  hoped  for,  and   the  evidence  of  things  not  seen.'' 


INAUGURAL     ADDRES>.  7 

We  must  beware  lest  we,  too,  have  the  name  without  the 
reality.  Around  the  nucleus  of  the  traditional  college  which 
has  been  well  maintained  since  the  earliest  days  of  this 
State,  we  must  build  the  schools  of  advanced  and  Liberal 
culture  in  all  the  great  departments  of  learning,  just  as  fast 
as  may  be  possible,  and  we  must  at  least  begin  to  recognize 
the  various  sciences  by  chairs  which  may  each  be  the 
nucleus  of  a  school  or  department. 

Second,  the  charter  and  the  name  declare  that  this  is  the 
"  University  of  California. "  It  is  not  the  University  of  Ber- 
lin nor  of  New  Haven  which  we  are  to  copy ;  it  is  not  the 
University  of  Oakland  nor  of  San  Francisco  which  we  are  to 
create;  but  it  is  the  University  of  this  State.  It  must  be 
adapted  to  this  people,  to  their  public  and  private  schools, 
to  their  peculiar  geographical  position,  to  the  requirements 
of  their  new  society  and  their  undeveloped  resources.  It  is 
not  the  foundation  of  an  ecclesiastical  body  nor  of  private 
individuals.  It  is  "of  the  people  and  for  the  people" — not 
in  any  low  or  unworthy  sense,  but  in  the  highest  and  noblest 
relations  to  their  intellectual  and  moral  well-being. 

Bearing,  then,  in  mind  that  this  is  to  be  a  University,  and 
that  it  is  to  be  the  University  of  California,  our  next  inquiry 
is  this,  "What  have  we  to  build  upon?" 

WHAT    IS    THERE    TO    BUILD    UPOX  ? 

You  may  be  supposed  to  know  much  better  than  I  what 
reply  to  make  to  this  inquiry;  but  some  of  the  features 
which  have  arrested  the  eye  of  a  new-comer  may  be  of 
interest. 

I  observe  that  you  have  a  good  charter,  not  perfect — 
and  Avhat  instrument  is  perfect — but  carefully  drawn,  on  the 
basis  of  good  models,  with  strict  reference  to  this  com- 
munity, and  with  a  perception  of  the  needs  of  this  age.  It 
opens  the  door  of  superior  education  to  all,  without  price. 
This  charter  is  administered  by  an  earnest  Board  of  Regents, 
who  mean  that  the  University  shall  he  a  success,  and  who 
will  not  be  disheartened  by  such  perplexities  and  difficulties 


8  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

as  beset  all  new  and  great  undertakings.  You  have  inher- 
ited from  the  College  of  California  a  good  name,  good 
books,  good  collections,  and  good -will.  Honor  to  those 
who  founded  it,  and  honor  to  those  who  enlarged  it! 
Those  pioneers,  who  in  the  earliest  days  of  this  State  estab- 
lished a  college,  were  worthy  children  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
Atlantic,  who  founded  a  college  at  Cambridge  when  the 
country  was  still  a  wilderness.  Here  the  task  was  no  less 
difficult  than  there.  The  lack  of  funds,  the  lack  of  an  or- 
ganized society,  the  pressure  of  material  wants  —  in  short, 
the  struggle  for  life — was  so  great,  that  the  wronder  is  the 
college  lived  at  all.  It  was  the  harbinger  of  good  not  yet 
fully  realized  or  appreciated,  perhaps  not  fully  foreseen  or 
designed;  but  be  sure  that  a  hundred  years  hence,  when 
the  centennial  of  the  University  is  celebrated,  as  it  surely 
will  be,  grateful  homage  will  be  rendered  to  the  foresight, 
the  vigilance,  and  the  self-denial  of  those  who  founded  and 
cherished  the  College  of  California. 

"The  hand  that  rounded  Peter's  dome, 
And  groined  the  aisles  of  Christian  Eome, 
Wrought  in  a  sad  sincerity  ; 
Himself  from  God  he  could  not  free. 
He  builded  better  than  he  knew  : 
The  conscious  stone  to  beauty  grew." 

You  have  inherited,  also,  a  good  site  at  Berkeley.  When 
I  first  stood  at  Berkele^y,  and  looked  at  the  mountains  and 
the  bay,  the  town  and  the  distant  glimpses  of  the  open  sea, 
I  recalled  an  hour  under  the  elms  at  New  Haven,  more  than 
two  years  ago,  when  I  listened  to  the  story  of  how  this  spot 
was  chosen,  of  the  rides  and  walks  which  were  directed  by 
an  observing  eye  over  the  hills  and  into  the  valleys  of  this 
charming  region,  with  a  prophetic  anticipation  of  the  com- 
ing day  when  the  college  germ,  alreadj7  planted,  would 
require  a  site  worthy  of  its  growth.  The  services  of  that 
enthusiastic  scholar,  whom  California  would  gladly  have 
kept,  if  Connecticut  would  have  spared  him,  are  honorably 
recorded  in  your  early  college  annals,  and  are  not  forgotten 


[NAUGURAL     ADDRESS.  9 

by  those  who  labored  with  him;  but  I  can  not  forbear  to 
repeat  at  this  time  the  name  of  one  of  those  to  whose  en- 
couragement my  presence  here  is  due:  the  name  of  Horace 
Bushnell,  of  Hartford. 

Among  those  tilings  which  are  required  to  make  a  uni- 
versity, an  ancient  writer  places,  first,  "a  good  and  pleasant 
site,  where  there  is  a  wholesome  and  temperate  constitution 
of  the  air;  composed  with  waters,  springs  or  wells,  woods 
and  pleasant  fields;  which,  being  obtained,  those  commodi- 
ties are  enough  to  invite  students  to  stay  and  abide  there.'' 
All  this,  and  much  more,  is  included  in  your  site.  You 
have  a  good  system  of  popular  instruction,  of  which  the 
University  is  to  be  the  crown;  jtou  dwell  in  a  community 
largely  composed  of  educated  men,  and  are  under  a  State 
Government  which,  like  a  generous  parent,  has  made  to  the 
University  a  generous  commencement  gift. 

Besides,  we  must  not  fail  to  note  that  a  vast  amount  of 
scientific  and  literary  work,  of  a  very  high  order,  has  been 
performed  in  California — good,  not  only  in  itself*  but  as  the 
seed-corn  of  future  harvests.  The  work  of  the  United  States 
Coast  Survey  on  the  Pacific,  for  example,  in  its  careful 
study  of  the  hydrography,  its  accurate  delineations  of  the 
harbors,  its  investigation  of  the  tides  and  currents,  its  solu- 
tion of  astronomical  and  geodetic  problems,  has  gained 
renown  for  California  science,  not  in  our  own  country  only, 
but  in  Europe,  and  has  helped  prepare  the  way  for  a  complete 
triangulation  of  the  national  territory.  Kindred  services 
have  been  rendered  by  the  engineers  of  the  Army.  There 
is  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State,  which  surpasses  in 
thoroughness  and  completeness  any  like  undertaking  in  the 
country,  and  is  the  delight  and  pride  of  all  men  of  science 
who  take  an  interest  in  the  accurate  and  careful  investiga- 
tion of  the  natural  characteristics  of  the  land,  either  for  its 
own  sake,  or  regarded  as  a  basis  for  social  and  political 
growth.  Crowing  out  of  this  work,  though  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  State,  and  under  the  national  authority,  are  the 
surveys  of  the    Fortieth   Parallel,   by  a   party  of  civilian 


10  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

attached  to  the  corps  of  army  engineers.  Binding  all  the 
men  of  science  together  as  a  brotherhood  of  scholars,  is  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  whose  publications  and  collections 
are  already  of  great  value.  A  young  society  which  has 
done  so  well  will  be  an  important  supporter  of  the  young 
University. 

Moreover,  the  literature  of  this  coast  possesses,  like  the 
fruits  here  growing,  a  richness  and  flavor  of  its  own,  so  that 
some  have  even  said  that  California  alone  of  all  parts  of  the 
land  has  made  quite  new  and  original  contributions  to  Amer- 
ican letters.  The  humor,  the  wit,  and  the  poetry  of  the 
Sierras  are  fresh  as  the  breezes  of  the  hill-tops,  and  as  spicy 
as  the  groves  of  pine.  Oratory  has  here  spoken  with  a 
patriotic  voice,  the  echoes  of  which  are  still  floating  in  the 
air.  To  foster  your  literature,  there  is  a  journal  whose 
fame  has  gone  over  land  and  over  seas  as  well,  the  encour- 
ager,  the  suggester,  and  the  producer  of  much  that  is  choice 
and  enduring. 

AVhen  such  science  and  such  literature  flourish,  the  day 
of  the  University  has  certainly  dawned. 

WHO    ARE    TO    BE    THE    BUILDERS. 

Can  we  now,  like  master -wxorkmen,  distribute  the  parts 
of  the  building  among  all  the  orders  of  the  craft,  so  that  the 
various  toilers  will  recognize  their  tasks?  Let  us,  at  any 
rate,  make  the  attempt. 

It  is  on  the  Faculty  more  than  on  any  other  body  that  the 
building  of  a  university  depends.  They  give  their  lives  to 
the  work.  It  is  not  the  site,  nor  the  apparatus,  nor  the 
halls,  nor  the  library,  nor  the  Board  of  Regents,  which  draws 
the  scholars — it  is  a  body  of  living  teachers,  skilled  in  their 
specialties,  eminent  in  their  calling,  loving  to  teach.  Such 
a  body  of  teachers  will  make  a  university  anywhere. 
Agassiz,  wherever  he  goes,  is  surrounded  by  a  company  of 
disciples ;  Whitney  would  have  his  class  in  language  at 
Berlin  or  Benares.  Such  men  will  draw  not  pupils  only, 
but  the  books  and  the  collections  they  require,  as  naturally 


INAUGURAL      ADDRESS.  11 

as  oi'  old  Orpheus  drew  the  rocks  and  beasts.  The  ge- 
nius  loci,  the  spirit  of  the  place,  will  be  the  spirit  of  the 
Faculty.  If  truth  and  culture  are  their  aim,  truth  and 
culture  will  flourish  in  the  college  where  they  toil.  If 
sordid  motives  or  unworthy  jealousies  spring  up  among 
them,  the  trust  they  bear  will  be  in  peril.  A  university 
requires  more  than  anything  else  a  large  and  vigorous  staff, 
so  that  the  various  sciences  and  languages  may  have  their 
devotees,  young  men  of  different  tastes  and  characters  may 
tind  lit  guides,  and  the  idiosjmcrasies  of  one  school  or  chair 
may  be  modified  and  counterbalanced  by  the  qualities  of 
another.  It  is  now  difficult,  both  in  Europe  and  this  coun- 
try, to  secure  enough  teachers  of  eminence,  for  other  call- 
ings are  better  paid  and  are  held  in  equal  honor;  let  then 
no  opportunity  be  lost  to  enlist  strong  men  of  attainment 
or  of  promise. 

The  Regents  or  Trustees  of  a  college  have  the  great  re- 
sponsibility of  appointing  the  body  of  teachers  and  of  pro- 
viding the  funds.  They  are  the  power  behind  the  throne, 
unseen  in  the  daily  work  of  the  college,  but  never  for  a 
moment  unfelt.  Upon  their  wise  choice  of  instructors,  their 
careful  guardianship  of  moneys,  their  construction  of  build- 
ings, their  development  of  new  departments  and  schools, 
their  mode  of  presenting  the  University  to  the  public,  will 
depend  the  confidence  and  liberality  of  the  community.  On 
them  the  shafts  of  criticism  may  be  often  inconsiderately 
hurled,  but  in  the  long  run  they  will  add  the  gratitude  of 
the  State  to  their  own  consciousness  of  fidelity  and  self- 
sacrifice  in  behalf  of  learning  and  the  country. 

The  State  authorities,  executive  and  legislative,  have  also 
a  great  part  to  perform  in  the  support  of  this  University,  not 
by  over-much  legislation,  nor  by  hasty  action  in  respect  to 
its  development,  but  by  steady,  munificent,  and  confiding 
support.  "Quick  to  help  and  slow  to  interfere"  should  be 
their  watchword. 

Xone  of  the  higher  educational  establishments  in  this 
country  have  flourished  without  the  support  ot  the   minis- 


12  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

ters  of  religion.  Their  counsels,  and  those  of  the  other 
educated  professions  are  continually  sought  by  parents  and 
young  men;  they  are  interested  in  all  that  promotes  intel- 
ligence and  truth  ;  they  have  been  from  the  earliest  colonial 
days  the  founders,  guardians,  and  teachers  of  our  best  insti- 
tutions. I  trust  this  University  will  always  merit  their  sup- 
port, for  if  worthy  it  will  surely  win  it. 

The  Press  is  another  social  power  on  whose  help  we  must 
count.  It  can  quicken  or  retard  the  establishment  of  a  com- 
plete university  by  its  favoring  or  censorious  attitude.  Its 
criticism  the  University  should  not  fear;  its  cordial  support 
the  University  should  desire.  Powerful  everywhere,  the 
Press  in  a  free  country  is  a  force  which  all  must  appreciate; 
let  us  hope  that  its  assistance  will  here  be  generously  ac- 
corded in  the  advocacy  of  the  higher  education,  and  in 
guiding  the  opinions  of  those  who  read. 

On  the  men  of  wealth  in  this  community  I  greatly  rely. 
It  is  true  the  State  has  been,  and  is  likely  to  be,  liberal  in 
its  appropriations ;  but  a  great  University  requires  almost 
unlimited  means  for  its  support.  The  library  alone  could 
well  employ  in  the  purchase  of  books,  and  the  payment  of 
salaries,  the  income  of  half  a  million  of  dollars.  A  school 
of  science  would  not  be  liberally  endowed  with  a  capital  of 
that  amount.  Funds  to  the  extent  of  several  thousand 
dollars  might  be  annually  employed  in  scholarships  and 
prizes.  Homes  or  halls  will  soon  be  needed  in  gome  form 
for  the  occupation  of  the  students  when  the  University  goes 
to  Berkeley.  Professorships  representing  studies  which 
are  not  taught  to  undergraduate  students,  but  which  should 
be  cherished  in  the  University,  must  also  be  founded.  I 
trust  the  day  will  come  when  the  spire  which  silently  points 
heavenward  will  mark  our  place  of  worship.  But  for  all 
these  things  we  can  not  expect  the  public  treasury  to  be 
opened.  Kelying  upon  that  for  the  most  essential  things, 
we  must  look  to  men  of  wealth  to  provide  the  richer  and 
more  complete  endowments  which  will  place  our  University 
by  the  side  of  her  older  sisters  at  the  East.     The  rich  Cali- 


INAUGURAL     ADDRES8.  13 

fbrnians,  who  have  made  this  wilderness  rejoice  and  blossom 
like  a  rose,  who  have  huill  these  banks  and  warehouses, 
these  railroads  and  steamships  —  the  men  who  by  their 
enterprise  have  made  a  University  desirable  and  possible, 
and  who  now  need  it  tor  their  children — must  make  it  actual 
by  their  munificence.  In  the  race  for  the  encouragement 
of  knowledge  and  the  education  of  the  young,  the  Occident 
must  not  he  distanced. 

THE    SPIRIT    WITH    WHICH    WE    ARE    TO    BUILD. 

I  need  not  say  much  of  the  spirit  with  which  we  are  to 
build.  It  is  enough  to  remind  you  that  the  individual  must 
he  quite  subordinate  to  his  work  —  each  member  of  the 
Faculty  and  of  the  I\e°'encv,  to  the  University  of  which  lie 
is  a  member;  that  the  present  and  the  future  are  both  to  be 
cared  for;  that  a  catholic  liberality  should  be  cherished 
toward  every  branch  of  useful  knowledge  ;  and  that  a  high 
ideal  should  be  constantly  in  mind.  The  teachers  should 
show  themselves  friends  to  the  scholars;  the  latter  should 
trust  their  instructors;  the  right  hand  of  good- will  should 
always  be  held  out  toward  the  public ;  and  the  effort  should 
be  made  to  "bridge  over  the  gulf  between  theory  and  prac- 
tice," or,  in  other  words,  to  promote  at  the  same  time 
abstract  science  and  useful  knowledge. 

THE    OUTLINES    OF    THE    FOUNDATION. 

There  are  peculiarities  in  the  structure  which  we  propose 
to  build,  arising  partly  from  the  newness  of  this  State,  and 
partly  from  its  geographical  position  ;  largely  also  from  the 
wants  which  are  felt  in  the  development  of  its  mines, 
manufactures,  agriculture,  and  commerce.  In  one  view  we 
may  say  that  the  new  education  should  here  have  full  scope  ; 
in  another,  we  may  say  that  there  is  no  distinction  between 
\ic\v  and  old  education  —  there  is  only  the  wise  adaptation 
in  each  generation  of  the  experience  of  the  past  to  the 
wants  of  the  present. 

In  years  long  since  gone  by,  the  schools  of  the  cloister 


14  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

taught  Divinity  chiefly,  with  the  scholastic  subtilties  of 
metaphysical  discussion;  when  literature  came  in  to  the 
universities,  after  the  so-called  "Revival  of  Letters/'  in  the 
form  of  studies  in  Greek,  the  scope  of  education  was  ex- 
tended to  the  Humanities,  but  the  advocates  of  Divinity 
studies  were  hostile  to  the  change  ;  when  research  went  out 
into  all  departments  of  nature,  the  lovers  of  the  Humanities 
were  ready  in  their  turn  to  close  the  door  on  Science,  even 
as  the  door  had  before  been  closed  on  the  study  of  Greek. 
Such  barriers  are  no  longer  defensible.  Science  and  the 
Humanities,  nature  and  man,  are  now  alike  recognized  as  the 
best  interpreters  of  Divinity.  Each  of  these  topics  deserves, 
therefore,  a  few  words. 

This  recognition  of  Divinity,  Humanities  and  Science — 
God,  Man,  and  Nature — gives  great  comprehensiveness  to 
a  modern  university;  indeed,  there  is  nothing  left  which 
could  be  included !  But  practical  difliculties  are  not  avoided 
by  such  general  statements.  Regarding  each  individual 
scholar,  regarding  each  programme  of  studies,  the  perplexity 
arises,  not  what  branches  may  be,  but  what  branches  must 
be  included  in  a  certain  course.  The  perplexity  will  never 
be  avoided,  but  the  practical  question  will  always  be  put  in 
some  such  forms  as  these:  What  is  the  relative  importance 
of  different  branches,  and  what  studies  most  deserve  encour- 
agement? Shall  literature  and  language,  the  traditional 
classical  course  of  our  colleges,  be  made  first  in  rank?  or 
shall  the  place  it  has  held  be  given  up  to  science  in  its 
theoretical  and  practical  aspects?  Are  the  modern  lan- 
guages to  be  chosen  rather  than  the  ancient?  Shall  history 
and  political  science,  with  the  study  of  the  Roman  law  and 
the  theory  of  the  State  be  preferred  ?  or  shall  mathematics 
be  the  dominant  theme?  Is  the  acquisition  of  knowledge, 
or  the  acquisition  of  discipline,  as  it  is  called,  the  end  of 
instruction  ?  Shall  general  studies  which  may  be  presumed 
to  have  an  equal  value  in  all  the  varied  callings  of  life,  or 
special  studies  which  have  decided  reference  to  a  profes- 
sional or  technical  career,  be  commended  to  the  youthful 


INAUGURAL     ADDRESS.  15 

student?  Shall  lectures,  or  shall  recitations,  or  shall  liter- 
ary and  scientific  research,  be  the  method  of  education? 
Shall  universal  freedom  of  choice  and  of  work  be  permitted, 

or  shall  collegiate  restrictions  and  control  he  insisted  on  ? 
These  and  a  score  of  kindred  questions  are  now  under  dis- 
cussion in  the  various  colleges  of  this  country,  and  will  long 
require  our  most  serious  attention. 

A  part  of  the  difficulty  disappears  when  we  distinguish 
the  requirements  of  young  scholars,  like  those  who  have 
just  left  the  high  school  and  the  academy,  from  those  of 
advanced  students,  whose  tastes,  talents  and  wants  are  spe- 
cialized. Give  the  former,  prescription ;  give  the  latter, 
freedom;  but  let  prescription  vary  with  the  varying  pecu- 
liarities of  individuals — and  let  the  freedom  allowed,  be  the 
freedom  which  is  governed  and  protected  by  law.  College 
work  for  college  boys  implies  daily  guidance  under  pre- 
scribed rules;  professional  work  implies  voluntary,  self- 
impelled  enthusiasm  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge. 

Another  difficulty  arises  from  the  vast  expansion  of 
science — so  vast  that  it  is  impossible  for  any  one,  were  he 
gifted  as  Leibnitz,  or  long-lived  as  Humboldt,  to  master  the 
details  of  modern  researches.  The  average  scholar,  having 
neither  the  genius  of  the  one,  nor  the  life-assurance  of  the 
other,  must  be  content  to  fill  a  much  more  restricted  field. 
The  versatile  and  facile  American  must  learn  to  admit  that 
there  is  a  difference  between  ability  to  do  anything  and 
ability  to  do  everything.     Non  omnes  omnia  possumus . 

THE  PLACE  OF  THE  NATURAL    SCIENCES  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  in  the  State  of  California  there 
is  no  occasion  to  make  a  plea  for  the  study  of  modern  sciences. 
The  need  of  civil,  mining,  and  mechanical  engineers,  of  ex- 
pert geologists  and  mineralogists,  of  devoted  naturalists 
and  physicists,  of  chemists  and  metallurgists,  of  geologic-, 
topographers,  and  map-makers,  of  agriculturists,  mechan- 
ics, manufacturers,  and  merchants,  well  trained  for  their 
various  callings,  is  now  so  obvious,  that  T  need  not  advocate 


16  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

the  importance  of  science  in  education.  Its  place  is  ac- 
knowledged. The  question  is,  how  to  secure  the  best  sort 
of  instruction,  the  fittest  sequence  and  relation  of  studies, 
the  most  eminent  teachers,  the  most  complete  laboratories, 
and  the  best  apparatus;  and  likewise  how  to  encourage  that 
special  proficiency  which  is  indispensable  to  success  in 
modern  scientific  professions,  with  that  literary  culture 
which  makes  a  scholar  and  befits  a  gentleman.  Health, 
wealth,  popular  intelligence,  and  the  spread  of  Christian 
civilization,  are  so  dependent  upon  the  discoveries  of  sci- 
ence, and  the  applications  of  these  discoveries  to  a  thousand 
useful  arts,  that  a  young  and  still  undeveloped  State  may 
well  afford  to  be  liberal  in  the  encouragement  of  this  class 
of  studies. 

Science,  though  yet  you  have  built  no  shrine  for  her 
worship,  was  the  mother  of  California.  It  was  her  re- 
searches, her  summings-up  of  the  experience  of  the  world, 
her  studies  of  nature,  which  have  made  possible  and  fruit- 
ful the  work  of  practical  men.  Science  stands  ready  to  do 
far  more  for  the  community  than  ever  yet,  if  only  you  will 
encourage  her  wholesome  eificiency.  Science  is  but  accu- 
rate knowledge,  systematically  arranged  and  philosophically 
discussed.  She  surveys  your  harbors,  marks  the  path  of 
the  mountain  railroad,  discovers  the  relations  of  the  strata 
of  the  rocks,  teaches  the  laws  of  climate,  maps  out  the  sier- 
ras, reclaims  the  waste  lands,  suggests  improvements  in 
agriculture,  annihilates  with  the  telegraph  the  vast  area  of 
space  which  separates  you  from  London  and  New  York. 
She  interprets  nature,  and  gathers  up  all  which  "  the  practi- 
cal "  workers  have  found  out.  Unfolding  the  plan  of  an 
immutable  Creator,  she  will  yet  be  recognized  as  the  hand- 
maid of  religion. 

At  an  early  day,  I  hope  to  have  an  opportunity  of  discus- 
sing more  fully  the  recent  progress  of  scientific  and  tech- 
nical instruction  with  reference  to  the  wants  of  this  State. 
We  shall  find  it  worth  while  to  note  the  experience 
of  the  Lawrence   and   Sheffield   Scientific  Schools,  of  the 


INAUGURAL     ADDRESS.  17 

Rensselaer  Institute,  and  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  of  West  Point  and  Annapolis,  and  of  the  vari- 
ous Colleges  of  Agriculture  and  the  Mechanic  Arts  which 
the   Congressional   grant   lias  created.     We  may   learn  in 

some  respects  even  more  from  the  experience  of  France, 
Switzerland,  and  Germany. 

With  all  this  experience  before  us,  intelligent  men  will 
be  likely  to  admit  that  among  the  first  wants  of  Cali- 
fornia are  distinct,  complete,  and  well-organized  schools  of 
science  and  technology,  such  as  your  organic  laws  contem- 
plate, in  which  men  of  eminence  shall  have  the  means  and 
the  leisure  to  make  researches  in  all  the  departments  of  in- 
vestigation; to  whom  young  men  shall  resort  for  training  in 
those  studies  which  are  closely  related  to  the  development 
of  mine?,  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  means  of  trans- 
portation ;  and  from  whom  the  public  at  large,  by  the 
press,  by  the  lecture,  by  the  informal  consultation,  may  be 
instructed  in  the  characteristics  of  this  remarkable  country, 
and  the  mode  in  which  its  resources  can  be  made  most  ser- 
viceable to  mankind.  My  chief  anxiety  is,  whether  the 
people  of  this  coast  are  yet  ready  to  pay  for  the  luxury  and 
the  advantage  of  such  serviceable  institutions.  It  will  re- 
quire a  great  many  teachers,  costly  laboratories,  large  funds 
—  more,  I  fear,  than  the  University,  with  all  the  claims 
upon  its  treasury,  is  yet  able  to  command.  Perhaps  some 
individual,  whose  experience  has  taught  him  the  value  of 
such  knowledge,  and  who  has  an  honorable  ambition  to 
leave  a  name  among  the  benefactors  of  the  State,  will  for 
this  special  purpose  supplement  the  resources  of  the  Uni- 
versity with  a  generous  private  gift,  like  those  which  have 
done  so  much  for  the  culture  of  Eastern  youth,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  Atlantic  States,  lie  will  be  sure  of  a 
monument  more  enduring  than  o-old. 

THE    PLACE    OF    HISTORY    AND    SOCIAL    SCIENCE. 

But  while  nature  and  its  laws  in  all  their  various  aspects 
and  applications  are  thus  engrossing,  Man  and   all   his  ex- 
9 


18  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

perience  and  achievements  are  likewise  of  transcendent  im- 
portance. Above  all  matter  is  Man  ;  above  both  matter 
and  man,  is  the  " Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,  rough 
hew  them  as  we  will.''  So  that  the  individual  or  the  in- 
stitution that  regards  only  the  natural  forces  of  this  globe, 
without  observing  likewise  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
forces  which  are  also  at  work,  sees  only  half  the  world. 

Give  us  more  and  not  less  science  ;  encourage  the  most 
thorough  and  prolonged  search  for  the  truth  which  is  to  be 
found  in  the  rocks,  the  sea,  the  soil,  the  air,  the  sun,  and 
the  stars;  in  light  and  heat,  and  magnetic  forces;  in  plants 
and  animals,  and  in  the  human  frame  ;  but  let  us  also  learn 
the  lessons  which  are  embodied  in  language  and  literature, 
in  laws  and  institutions,  in  doctrines  and  opinions,  in  his- 
torical progress  and  international  relations.  Let  language, 
history  and  literature,  oratory,  poetry  and  art,  still  form  a 
chief  part  of  liberal  culture,  while  mathematical,  physical 
and  natural  sciences  are  admitted  to  the  rank  from  which 
they  have  long  been  excluded. 

In  California,  it  seems  to  me,  there  are  special  reasons 
for  such  a  plea.  This  is  still  a  young  State  ;  it  is  the  most 
advanced  and  prosperous  of  a  group  of  young  States,  the 
power  of  which  in  this  Union  no  one  can  exaggerate.  The 
young  men  who  are  to  go  out  from  this  University  are  to  be 
the  law-makers,  the  guides  of  public  education,  the  men  of 
influence  and  capital,  the  administrative  authorities,  the 
journalists,  the  orators,  the  formers  of  public  opinion,  not 
only  in  California,  but  over  this  vast  new  area  of  the  conti- 
nent, where  the  State  is  still  in  infancy.  Such  young 
men,  even  more  than  the  educated  in  older  republics, 
should  be,  no  matter  what  their  daily  occupations  are,  well 
grounded  in  the  principles  of  governmental  and  social 
science.  They  should  also  be  familiar  with  the  usages  of 
the  most  civilized  and  enlightened  communities,  and  with 
the  opinions  of  the  most  trustworthy  of  statesmen,  jurists, 
and  philosophers.  It  is  important,  for  their  own  culture 
and  for  the  public  good,  that  they  should  have  a  clear  no- 


INAUGURAL      ADDRESS.  19 

tion  of  what  constitutes  the  State,  in  its  best  form.  Whether 
merchants,  manufacturers,  farmers,  or  miners,  they  are  quite 
as  likely  as  lawyers,  and  much  more  likely  than  physicians 
ami  clergymen,  to  be  called  to  the  councils  of  legislation, 
and  to  pronounce  opinions  there  on  difficult  questions  per- 
taining to  human  society,  law,  finance,  property,  education, 
crime,  pauperism,  and  the  policy  of  the  national,  State. 
and  local  governments. 

But  California  is  not  only  the  central  of  a  group  of  young 
States.  It  is  the  State  through  which  distant  nations  are 
becoming  acquainted  with  American  institutions.  Its  in- 
fluence in  the  organization  and  regeneration  of  lands  be- 
yond the  sea  is  unquestionably  but  just  begun. 

Therefore,  I  say  that  the  study  of  history — not  as  dry 
annals,  but  as  the  record  of  living  forces  and  human  ex- 
perience— the  study  of  political  economy,  of  social  science, 
of  civil  liberty,  and  of  public  law,  should  be  made  attract- 
ive by  the  voices  of  original  and  profound  teachers,  who 
know  how  to  gather  up  the  wisdom  of  the  old  and  apply 
it  to  the  requirements  of  the  new  generations. 

THE    PLACE    OF     LANGUAGE. 

In  the  study  of  humanity  and  history,  language  is  the 
master-key  which  unlocks  all  doors.  Time  is  wasted  in 
questioning  whether  ancient  or  modern  languages  are  most 
important.  In  the  University,  both  groups  must  be  taught; 
the  more  any  individual  has,  the  richer  will  be  his  life. 
Certainly,  the  study  of  English,  which  every  one  of  us  em- 
ploys as  the  instrument  by  which  we  think,  and  by  which 
we  communicate  our  thoughts  to  others,  should  be  careful- 
ly promoted.  In  these  days,  when  so  much  that  is  new  and 
important  first  appears  in  German  and  French,  no  system 
of  education  can  be  called  liberal,  as  it  has  well  been  said, 
which  does  not  include  those  tongues.  Greek  and  Latin 
are  not  only  of  value  for  the  literature  and  history  they  em- 
body, but  for  their  important  relations  to  more  modern 
tongues.     On  this  coast,  there  are  special  linguistic  require- 


20  INAUGURAL      ADDRESS. 

merits.  Spanish  certainly  should  be  taught  in  the  Univer- 
sity. It  is  a  praiseworthy  forethought  on  the  part  of  one  of 
the  Regents*  which  has  led  him  to  provide  among  us  for 
the  study  of  Chinese  and  Japanese.  His  presence  here  can 
not  restrain  me  from  now  rendering  a  public  tribute  of 
gratitude  for  this  wise  and  timely  munificence.  Let  us 
hope  that  his  generous  purposes  will,  ere  long,  be  realized. 
To  complete  the  instructions  in  Oriental  tongues,  at  least 
two  other  chairs  will  be  needed — one  to  be  for  Hebrew  and 
the  Semitic  languages,  which,  perhaps,  some  other  citizen 
will  be  glad  to  establish  ;  and  one  for  Sanskrit  and  the 
comparative  philology  of  Indo-European  tongues — the  group 
to  which  the  chief  languages  of  Europe  belong.  The  world 
of  letters  would  also  rejoice,  if,  ere  the  last  of  the  Indian 
races  disappears  before  the  progress  of  civilization,  en- 
couragement could  here  be  given  to  some  scholar  to  gather 
up  and  perpetuate  the  knowledge  of  their  speech.  In  all 
our  linguistic  study,  we  need  to  get  beyond  and  above  mere 
grammatical  drill,  and  to  think  of  speech  as  one  of  the  chief 
endowments  of  human  nature,  and  "  of  every  language  as  a 
concrete  result  of  the  working-out  of  that  capacity,  an  insti- 
tution of  gradual  historic  growth,  a  part  of  the  culture  of 
the  race  to  which  it  belongs,  and  handed  down  by  tradition 
from  teacher  to  learner,  like  every  other  part  of  culture  ; 
and  hence,  that  the  study  of  language  is  a  historical  science, 
to  be  pursued  by  historical  methods." f 

In  the  teaching  of  both  history  and  language,  as  well  as 
of  science,  the  University  may  well  be  guided  by  "the 
comparative  method,"  which  has  yielded  already  such  good 
results.  It  is  thus  characterized  by  an  able  historian.  "  The 
comparative  method  in  philology  and  mythology — let  me  add, 
in  politics  and  history,  and  the  whole  range  of  human 
thought — marks  a  stage  in  the  progress  of  the  human  mind 
at  least  as  great  and  memorable  as  the  revival  of  Greek  and 
Latin  learning.     It  has  put  the  language  and  the  history  of 

*  Hon.  Edward  Tompkins, 
t  Prof.  W.  D.Whitney. 


INAUGURAL     ADDRESS.  21 

the  so-called  'classical'  world  into  their  true  position  in 
the  general  history  of  the  world.  By  making  them  no 
longer  the  objects  of  an  exclusive  idolatry,  it  lias  made 
them  the  objects  of  a  worthier  because  a  more  reasonable 
worship.  It  has  broken  down  the  middle  wall  of  partition 
between  kindred  races  and  kindred  studies;  it  lias  swept 
away  barriers  which  fenced  off  certain  times  and  languages 
as  'dead'  and  'ancient;'  it  has  taught  us  that  there  is 
no  such  tiling  as  'dead'  and  'living'  languages,  or  'an- 
cient' and  'modern'  history;  it  has  taught  us  that  the 
study  of  language  is  one  study,  that  the  study  of  history  is 
one  study.  As  man  is  the  same  in  all  ages,  the  history  of 
man  is  one  in  all  ages."* 

THE    PLACE    OF    RELIGION    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY. 

The  recognition  which  should  be  given  to  religion  in  a 
State  University  involves  considerations  which  are  not  to 
be  encountered  in  colleges  founded  by  church  authorities 
or  by  private  corporations.  The  old  English  colleges, 
whose  traditions  New  England  has  gratefully  accepted, 
were  the  children  of  the  church,  and  though  their  doors  are 
no  longer  shut  to  non-conformists,  their  ecclesiastical  char- 
acter is  still  decided.  Harvard  College,  the  mother  of  all 
our  higher  institutions,  still  bears  upon  its  escutcheon 
"  Christo  et  ecclesice,"  the  motto  of  its  founders.  Yale  Col- 
lege went  back  to  the  Old  Testament  for  a  symbolic  watch- 
word, and  bears  upon  its  seal,  the  open  oracles  inscribed 
with  Hebrew  characters.  At  Xassau  Hall,  we  are  told  that 
"in  regard  to  religious  truth,  there  will  be  no  uncertain 
sound.''  At  Cornell  University  a  generous  gift  has  been 
accepted  for  a  chapel,  with  a.  foundation,  if  I  am  rightly  in- 
formed, which  will  secure  the  services  of  eminent  preacher.-. 
and  with  a  plan  for  daily  religious  worship.  But  none  of 
these  institutions  is  a  State  University,  though  all  of  them 
were  fostered  in  their  infancy  by  the  kindly  nourishment 
of  the  public  treasury.     We  are  on  the  contrary  the  guafd- 

*  E.  A.  Freeman,  in  his  recent  Rede  Lecture  at  Cambridge,  England. 


22  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

ians  and  friends  of  a  State  University,  established  iri  the 
midst  of  a  community  more  varied  than  almost  any  in  the 
land.  Here  are  still  seen  the  traces  of  the  Spanish  pioneers 
who  brought  to  these  shores  so  long  ago,  with  the  symbol 
of  the  cross,  the  emblematic  keys  of  the  Roman  pontiff; 
nearly  all  the  various  forms  of  Christian  faith  which  the 
Episcopal  and  non-Episcopal  churches  of  the  Reformation 
have  professed,  find  here  their  advocates;  there  are  many 
among  us,  likewise,  wrho  look  for  a  Messiah  yet  to  come  ; 
and  crowding  into  these  harbors  behold  the  children  of  Con- 
fucius and  the  worshipers  of  the  unknown  gods. 

The  State,  as  a  body-politic,  protects  the  assemblies  and 
the  worship  of  all  these  bodies  ;  it  favors  none.  How  shall 
it  be  with  the  University  and  the  public  school,  which  per- 
form the  service  of  the  State  in  the  education  of  the  young  ? 
Shall  religious  teaching  be  excluded  from  the  University, 
or  shall  it  have  a  covert  and  an  apologetic  place — shall  it  be 
an  organized  force,  or  a  silent  and  all-pervading  influence  ? 
Shall  its  spirit  be  narrow  and  sectarian,  or  shall  it  be 
catholic  and  free  ?  The  difficulty  is  not  felt  in  California 
alone.  It  is  involved  in  the  toleration  of  the  modern  Chris- 
tian State  toward  all  forms  of  religious  belief,  and  in  its  gen- 
erous provisions  for  the  promotion  of  education. 

In  meeting  the  difficulty,  it  may  be  well  to  bear  in  mind 
that  religion  includes  four  different  elements — Worship, 
Doctrines,  Precepts,  and  Spirit.  A  religious  spirit  no  one 
objects  to;  it  is  the  spirit  which  looks  "  outward  and  not 
inward,  upward  and  not  downward,  forward  and  not  back- 
ward, and  which  lends  a  hand  ;"  it  is  the  spirit  which 
"  loves  justice,  shows  mercy,  and  walks  humbly  before  the 
Lord;"  it  is  the  spirit  of  truth,  of  faith,  of  hope,  and  of 
charity  ;  it  is  the  spirit  of  "  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to 
men."  We  may  say,  as  we  say  of  science,  the  more  we 
have  of  the  genuine  the  better  for  mankind.  Whatever 
Precepts  will  tend  to  cherish  this  inward  spirit  and  the  out- 
ward uprightness  and  unselfishness  which  proceed  from  it, 
all  ^ood  men  will  endorse.     When  we  begin  to  formulate 


INAUGURAL      ADDRESS.  '23 

Doctrines  into  creeds  and  symbols,  then  come  controversy 
and  difference — the  right  wing  against  the  left  wing,  the 
conservative  against  the  liberal,  bo  that  an  attempt  to  en- 
force the  doctrines  of  this  or  that  ecclesiastical  body  will  he 
sure  to  come  to  grief.  The  University  is  no  place  for  sec- 
tarian controversy  or  denominational  zeal.  It  is  a  school 
of  learning.  But  as  a  school  of  learning  it  must  teach  the 
history  of  opinion  and  belief,  it  must  teach  the  rise  and 
growth  and  decay  of  institutions,  it  must  show  how  Christ- 
ian civilization  has  overcome  pagan  practices  and  belief, 
and  has  purified  the  home,  the  State,  and  the  relations  of 
nations,  modifying  laws,  usages,  manners,  and  language, 
establishing  charities,  reforming  prisons,  securing  honesty, 
virtue,  and  justice.  All  this  should  be  taught  by  scholars, 
and  not  by  partisans.  If  the  body  of  teachers  and  students, 
imbued  by  this  spirit  of  truth  and  charity,  will  daily  as- 
semble of  their  own  accord  to  acknowledge  their  depend- 
ence upon  Divine  wisdom,  to  chant  the  Psalms  of  David, 
and  to  join  in  the  prayer  which  the  Master  taught  his  dis- 
ciples— who  can  doubt  that  such  communion  of  Worship  will 
elevate  the  character  of  all  who  engage  in  it,  and  of  the 
institution  to  which  they  belong?  So  far  as  this  I  would 
have  our  University  go,  forcing  none  to  attend  upon  such 
religious  worship,  drawing  all  to  it  by  their  own  conscious- 
ness of  its  value. 

But  many  would  go  further  than  this.  Many  parents, 
many  religious  teachers,  many  churches,  desire  and  insist 
that  youth  at  the  critical  period  of  college  life  shall  be 
surrounded  by  positive,  outspoken,  and  persuasive  religious 
influences.  They  are  afraid  of  a  State  University,  and 
long  for  an  ecclesiastical  college.  Hence  come  the  many 
attempts  to  promote  the  higher  education,  when  one  united 
effort  would  hardly  be  adequate.  But  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  end  in  view  might  be  secured  by  better  methods. 
Why  may  not  any  religious  body  or  association,  or  private 
individual,  desirous  of  protecting  the  young  men  from 
temptation,  and  encouraging  them  in  the  higher  life,  estab- 


24  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

lish,  in  connection  with  the  University,  a  home,  or  hall,  or 
college,  which  should  be  controlled  according  to  the  found- 
er's views,  should  be  a  privileged  residence,  should  be  en- 
dowed perhaps  with  prizes  and  purses.  I  can  imagine  on 
the  slopes  at  Berkeley,  a  group  of  students'  houses,  bearing 
honorable  names,  and  made  attractive  by  the  convenience 
of  their  arrangements,  the  good-fellowship  within  their 
walls,  the  privileges  of  the  foundation.  I  should  hope  they 
would  not  be  barracks,  or  dormitories — but  homes,  with 
rooms  of  common  assembly  and  private  study.  I  should 
hope  the  bath-room  and  the  dining-hall  would  be  included 
in  the  structure;  and  if  any  would  go  so  far  as  to  have  a 
place  of  light  amusement  and  recreation,  I  for  one  should 
not  object.  Within  such  college  halls,  the  love  of  learning 
would  reign,  bad  morals  and  ill-manners  would  be  excluded, 
and  priceless  associations  would  be  cherished  like  those  of 
Harvard  and  Yale,  Cambridge  and  Oxford.  Here,  under 
right  guidance,  the  best  of  moral  and  religious  influences 
might  be  promoted.  What  church,  what  association,  or  what 
generous  individual,  will  be  the  first  to  establish  such  a  hall? 
In  these  convictions,  which  are  the  result  of  anxious 
thought  and  familiar  conference  with  many  of  the  most 
liberal  and  the  most  conservative  leaders  of  education 
and  opinion,  I  am  strengthened  by  the  utterances  of 
the  President  of  Princeton  College  (the  Rev.  Dr.  McCosh), 
who  has  studied,  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  a  kindred 
difficulty.  He  suggests  in  his  inaugural  the  question,  "how 
is  religion  to  be  grafted  on  State  colleges,  open  to  all,  what- 
ever their  religious  profession;"  and  he  answers  it  by  the 
clear  declaration,  confirmed  by  examples:  "Let  the  State 
provide  the  secular  instruction,  and  the  churches  provide 
the  religious  training  in  the  homes  in  which  the  students 
reside.' ' 

THE    EXAMPLE    OF    A    GOOD    BUILDER.     ' 

I  hail  it  as  a  omen  of  good,  both  for  religion  and  learning, 
that  the  site  of  this  University  bears  the  name  of  Berkele}7, 
the  scholar  and  the  divine.     It  is  not  yet  a  century  and  a 


INAUGURAL     ADDRESS.  25 

half  since  that  romantic  voyage  which  brought  to  Newport, 
in  Rhode  Island,  an  English  prelate,  who  would  found  a 
college  in  the  Bermudas — the  Sandwich  Islands  of  the 
Atlantic — for  the  good  of  the  American  aborigines,  lie 
failed  in  seeing  his  enthusiastic  purpose  accomplished.  He 
could  not  do  as  he  would;  he  therefore  did  as  he  could, 
lie  gave  the  Puritan  College,  in  New  Haven,  a  library  and 
his  farm,  and  endowed  in  it  prizes  and  scholarships  which 
still  incite  to  the  learning  of  Latin.  There,  his  memory  is 
"ever  kept  green."  His  name  is  given  to  a  School  of 
Divinity,  in  the  neighboring  city  of  Middletown.  It  is 
honored  in  Dublin  and  Oxford,  and  in  Edinburgh,  where 
his  memoirs  have  just  been  written.  His  fame  has  crossed 
the  continent,  which  then  seemed  hardly  more  than  a  sea- 
board of  the  Atlantic  ;  and  now,  at  the  very  ends  of  the 
earth,  near  the  Golden  Gate,  the  name  of  Berkeley  is  to  be 
a  household  word.  Let  us  emulate  his  example.  In  the 
catholic  love  of  learning,  if  we  can  not  do  what  we  would, 
let  us  do  what  wre  can.  Let  us  labor  and  pray  that  his  well- 
kuown  vision  may  be  true : 

"  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way; 
The  four  first  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day; 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 

WHAT    IS    ALL    THIS    BUILDING    FOR  ? 

Busy  though  we  be  as  the  Builders  of  this  University, 
the  hours  of  rest  will  follow  on  the  hours  of  toil;  doubt- 
less, also,  disappointment  and  embarrassment,  those  unwel- 
come thieves,  will  haunt  us  with  their  presence.  In  these 
hours  of  repose  and  doubt,  we  shall  often  ask  ourselves, 
What  is  all  this  building  for,  why  do  we  spend  our 
money  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  our  labor  for  that 
which  satisfieth  not,  why  all  this  eagerness  tor  bo<>k> 
and  teachers,  for  halls  and  funds,  why  all  these  anxious 
thoughts  about  education,  and  culture,  and  University  pro- 
gress?     You,  sir,  my  honored  predecessor,  about  to  throw 


26  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

off  the  academic  gown;  you,  my  colleagues  in  the  Faculty; 
you,  gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Regents,  already  know 
that  ours  is  no  easy  undertaking.  With  what  philosophy 
can  we  fit  ourselves  for  a  long  and  weary  task  ?  Not 
we  alone  are  to  ask  this  question.  The  State,  before  re- 
newing its  endowments,  the  national  government  before 
repeating  its  grant,  the  men  of  wealth  before  founding  new 
professorships,  and  the  fathers  before  sending  us  their  boys, 
will  often  ask,  "What  for?"  Let  us  have  our  answer 
ready.  Let  us  trace  the  influences  which  have  proceeded 
from  Athens,  where  Socrates  and  Plato  taught — teachers 
whose  words  still  nurture  our  statesmen  and  theologians; 
from  Bologna  and  Paris,  where  students  dwelt  by  thou- 
sands; from  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  where  so  many  of  the 
foremost  leaders  of  Anglican  literature,  politics,  and  sci- 
ence were  fitted  for  their  career;  from  the  seats  of  learning 
in  Germany,  now  surpassing  in  number  of  teachers  and  stu- 
dents the  universities  of  every  other  State  ;  from  the  col- 
leges of  New  England  and  the  Atlantic  sea-board  ; — let  us 
study  such  examples,  and  sajT  with  courage  and  hope  that  the 
University  of  California  shall  be  a  place  where  all  the  ex- 
perience of  past  generations,  so  far  as  it  is  of  record,  and 
all  that  is  known  of  the  laws  of  nature,  shall  be  at  command 
for  the  benefit  of  this  generation  and  those  who  come  after 
us;  that  here  shall  be  heard  the  voice  of  the  wisest  think- 
ers, and  here  shall  be  seen  the  examples  of  the  most  diligent 
students  in  every  department  of  science.  Let  us  say,  that 
here  high-minded  youth,  while  they  train  their  powers  as 
in  a  gymnasium,  may  also  fit  themselves  with  armor  for 
the  battle  of  life,  and  may  study  examples  of  noble  activity. 
Let  us  see  to  it  that  here  are  brought  together  the  books  of 
every  nation,  and  those  who  can  read  them;  the  collec- 
tions from  all  the  kingdoms  of  nature,  and  those  who  can 
interpret  them  ;  the  instruments  of  research  and  analysis, 
and  those  who  can  employ  them  ;  and  let  us  be  sure  that 
the  larger  the  capital  we  thus  invest,  the  greater  will  be 
the  dividend. 


INAUGURAL      ADDRESS.  27 

What  is  the  University  for?  It  is  to  fit  young  men  for 
high  and  noble  careers,  satisfactory  to  themselves,  and  use- 
ful to  mankind  ;  it  is  to  bring  before  the  society  of  to-day, 
the  failures  and  the  successes  of  societies  in  the  past;  it  is 
to  discover  and  make  known  how  the  forces  of  nature  may 
be  subservient  to  mankind  ;  it  is  to  hand  down  to  the  gen- 
erations which  come  after  us,  the  torch  of  experience  by 
which  we  have  been  enlightened. 

It  is  wisdom  that  the  University  promotes;  wisdom,  for 
individuals  and  nations,  for  this  life  and  the  future  ;  a 
power  to  distinguish  the  useless,  the  false,  and  the  fragile, 
from  the  good,  the  true,  and  the  lasting.  There  was  a  wise 
man  of  olden  time  who  figured  its  value  as  well  as  any  of 
the  writers  of  to-day,  when  he  said:  "Happy  is  the  man 
that  findeth  wisdom,  and  the  man  that  getteth  understand- 
ing, for  the  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the  merchan- 
dise of  silver,  and  the  gain  thereof  than  fine  gold;"  and 
his  estimate  of  post-graduate  instruction  deserves  our  as- 
sent: •'  Give  instruction  to  a  wise  man,  and  he  will  get 
wiser  ;  teach  a  just  man,  and  he  will  increase  in  learning." 

THE    FUTURE    BEFORE    US. 

A  single  word  in  conclusion.  The  possible  relations  of 
this  University  to  the  new  civilization  of  the  Pacific  Coast, 
and  to  the  enlightenment  of  Asiatic  nations,  give  a  special 
interest  to  its  work,  for  it  is  obvious  that  California  is  not 
only  granary,  treasury,  and  mart  for  the  American  States 
which  are  growing  up  on  this  long  coast,  but  it  is  the 
portal  through  which  the  Occident  and  Orient  must  ex- 
change their  products  and  their  thoughts.  China  and  Japan, 
Australia  and  the  Islands  of  the  Sea,  are  the  neighbors  and 
the  customers  of  the  Golden  State.  Shall  they  not  also 
look  here  for  instruction  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  for 
an  example  of  a  well-organized  and  well-educated  com- 
munity? The  endowment  of  a  professorship,  which  shall 
be  devoted  to  the  study  of  Chinese  and  Japanese,  indicates 
an  early  recognition  of  this  intimate  relationship.     We  can 


28  INAUGURAL     ADDRESS. 

not  be  too  quick  to  prepare  for  the  possible  future  which 
may  open  upon  us.  It  is  not  yet  determined  in  what  way 
the  Chinese  and  Japanese  indemnity  funds  shall  be  em- 
ployed, but  public  discussion  tends  to  their  devotion  to 
the  promotion  of  education,  either  in  this  country  or  in 
the  Orient,  for  the  benefit  of  those  from  whom  the  funds 
were  received.  Would  it  not  be  fit  that  in  this  vicinit}^ 
near  to,  if  not  in  connection  with,  this  University,  a  high 
seminary  should  be  founded  with  these  funds,  having  the 
double  purpose  of  enlightening  Americans  in  respect  to 
the  languages,  literature,  and  history  of  the  East,  and  of  in- 
structing the  Chinese  and  Japanese  in  the  modern  lan- 
guages and  sciences  of  Europe  and  America? 

A  new  epoch  of  history  seems  opening  before  us.  The 
early  nations,  with  what  has  been  called  their  fresh-water 
civilization,  flourished  on  the  Nile  and  by  the  rivers  of 
Babylon;  at  a  later  day  the  Mediterranean  became  the 
centre  of  successive  empires — monarchs  of  a  land-locked 
sea.  Modern  civilization  has  bordered  the  Atlantic.  Now, 
face  to  face,  with  the  great,  peaceful  ocean  intervening,  are 
the  oldest  and  the  youngest  forms  of  human  society. 
Steam  already  shortens  the  space,  and  the  electro -magnet 
will  soon  annihilate  the  time  which  separates  eastern  Asia 
and  western  America. 

Toward  the  good  which  may  follow  in  commercial  inter- 
course, in  mutual  good-fellowship,  and  in  the  promotion  of  a 
higher  civilization,  the  University  of  California  must  stand 
ready  to  do  its  part. 

As  I  look  forward  to  what  is  opening,  beyond  the  mists 
which  rest  upon  the  harbor,  I  feel  like  quoting,  with  a  sin- 
gle syllable  of  adaptation,  the  prophetic  dream  which  a 
gifted  English  scholar  uttered  in  regard  to  his  western  out- 
look.* Uttered  in  Europe,  his  words  are  still  more  fitly 
spoken  here: 

"  I  am  turning  my  eyes  toward  a  hundred  years  to  come, 
and  I  dimly  see  the  land  I  am  gazing  on  become  the  road 

John  Henry  Newman. 


INAUGURAL     ADDRESS.  20 

of  passage  and  union  between  two  hemispheres,  and  the 
centre  of  the  world.  I  see  its  inhabitants  rival  Belgium  in 
populousness,  France  in  vigor,  and  Spain  in  enthusiasm. 

"The  capital  of  that  prosperous  and  hopeful  land  is  situ- 
ate in  a  beautiful  bay  and  near  a  romantic  region;  and  in  it 
I  see  a  flourishing  University,  which,  for  a  while,  had  to 
struggle  with  fortune,  but  which,  when  its  first  founders 
and  servants  were  dead  and  gone,  had  successes  far  exceed- 
ing their  anxieties.  Thither,  as  to  a  sacred  soil,  the  home 
of  their  fathers,  and  the  fountain-head  of  their  Christianity, 
students  are  flocking  from  east,  west,  and  south,  from  Amer- 
ica, and  Australia,  and  India,  from  Egypt  and  Asia  Minor, 
with  the  ease  and  rapidity  of  a  locomotion  not  yet  discov- 
ered, and  last,  though  not  least,  from  England — all  speak- 
ing one  tongue,  all  owning  one  faith,  all  eager  for  one  true 
wisdom;  and  thence,  when  their  stay  is  over,  going  back 
again  to  carry  over  all  the  earth  'peace  to  men  of  good- 
will."' 


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